The "good luck as this situation unfolds" line and the vanilla-sounding alias names for the reps strongly suggest a South Asian fake debt collector. If you really want to know how they've found you and Gramma and the neighbor's pet ferret, think back to when you or someone related gave away a pile of sensitive data to strangers through an online application form.
To be clear, this is extortion dressed as debt collection. The agents' horrid threats are empty and their conduct is illegal. As early as possible it's critical to determine if your collector is domestic or yet another South Asian faker. The former you can sue into submission; the latter tend to be out of reach.
My notes from October 2011 on payday loan and "hot check" collectors are linked below.
http://800notes.com/forum/ta-429fb24ec2162e3/ ... -numbers-here-2
See also this FTC alert: "Fake Debt Collectors"
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0258-fake-debt-collectors
(former title: ''Who's Calling? That Debt Collector Could Be a Fake'')
The following will be useful if you have a US domestic collector calling, and will in general help you sniff out the frauds:
official FTC guidance and staff opinions on the FDCPA, PDF copy of the Act
http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpajump.shtm
CFPB Q&A on debt collection practices
http://www.consumerfinance.gov/askcfpb/search ... bt%20Collection
I have received 4 calls from this phone number asking for one of my employees. The man and lady have a very thinck accent and are very hard to understand. Each phone call has been from 415-952-5630. Each time they have stated that they need to talk to XYZ and their attorney. Both persons are VERY, VERY RUDE and demanding. The last call today was from the man and he stated that he was w/ Stone County Sherriffs office demanding that XYZ called him back.
I received a call from a David Miller at work today. My boss answered, said I wasn't there, took a message and told him to call back later. When he asked what it was in regards too, he said it was no big deal, but it was very urgent that I call him today. When I got home, I had three messages on my machine from the same David Miller, but only one of the three calls was for me. The other two was for two different people. After several attemps, I finally got through. Tracy answered and said she was an attorney and that David was her paralegal. That she needed to fax me some paperwork to get my account settled. She then gave me the last four digits of my SS# and asked me if they were correct. When I asked her what this was in regards too, she said that if I didn't pay my account that I would be arrested tomorrow. When I quit laughing, I asked her what had I done to get arrested. At this point she acted like she couldn't hear me and eventually hung up the phone. I have not been able to get back through. I couldn't make out the company they said they were with, but they had possibly Indonesian accents.